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Skittles
Skittles is a comedic short story by MetalGearSamus. It subverts expectations of a shipping story by having Pinkie Pie be unaware of what she is doing with and to Rainbow Dash. As of May 17, 2012, there are minor spelling and wording differences between the Equestria Daily/googledocs and FIMFiction versions.__TOC__ Style The story is written in the third-person, present tense, and primarily follows Twilight's thought process. Summary The story begins with Twilight just having entered Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie is there and offers her a new type of rainbow-colored candy she's invented. Twilight is skeptical, but politely tastes a few, and they are delicious. After Twilight expresses her curiosity, Pinkie explains that it took her 69 tries to get the taste just right, and that Rainbow Dash helped her. To explain further, she launches into a flashback: :Earlier that day, Pinkie is present when Rainbow attempts to do a stunt in the middle of Ponyville. She fails and crashes, knocking over a vegetable vendor's wagon in the process. Mayor Mare is nearby and chews the Pegasus out for doing something like this on market day, souring Rainbow's mood further. Pinkie decides to offer Rainbow some comfort food and rest at Sugarcube Corner. :They goof off for the next half-hour with no interruptions from either the Cakes or any customers, when Pinkie suddenly asks Dash if she can taste her. She has developed a theory that Rainbow Dash, being rainbow-colored, would taste just like rainbows: spicy. Dash is taken aback, but before she can protest, Pinkie has already proceeded to lick her belly. Her verdict: it tastes like raisins. :She instantly has another idea, however, and kisses Rainbow Dash on the mouth. It still doesn't taste spicy, but it does taste sweet and fruity: a perfect flavor for a new candy. Rainbow is still unnerved and flustered, but in a different way, and when Pinkie asks if she can repeat the experiment, Dash allows her in. They "make candy" for the rest of the day, with Pinkie comparing her flavoring to the real thing. The story returns to the present and to Twilight, who has a better understanding of what happened between the two ponies than Pinkie appears to have. Rainbow Dash emerges from the kitchen on shaky legs, and Applejack comes into the shop as well. Before either Twilight or Rainbow Dash can tell AJ not to, she scarfs down some of the candies. Her expression turns from happiness to horror when she realizes what the taste reminds her of. Twilight faints, unnoticed by her friends, when Pinkie remarks that they made a second recipe as well. She pulls a plate full of "spicy muffins" from the counter: it turns out there is a place where Rainbow tastes spicy after all. Upon hearing that, Applejack faints as well. A brief coda appears to be a rephrasing of the scene in The Cutie Mark Chronicles in which Pinkie ends the story of how she got her cutie mark with "... and that's how Equestria was made". Here, she says she just told the Cutie Mark Crusaders the story of her cutie mark, but it is implied she told them a version of "Skittles". Allusions The story, though brief, contains a number of references to other media: * Skittles is an American brand of colorful candy. One of their most well-known slogans is "taste the rainbow". * Rainbow Dash crashing into the cart of a cabbage vendor at the beginning bears a resemblance to a running gag in the television show Avatar: The Last Airbender. * Rainbow initially assuming that Pinkie intends to actually eat her is played as a reference to the fanfic Cupcakes. * Dash's underbelly tasting "like raisins" is a reference to a viral online video. * Twilight's first reaction upon tasting the Rainbow Bits is intended to mirror M. Bison's reaction in this video, which is itself a meme. An accidental reference is the stunt Rainbow Dash attempts in this story (an upward sonic rainboom); she performs that feat in the episode A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2, broadcast nine months after the story was published. Before Pinkie tells Twilight the story of what happened, she refers to herself as Twilight's "auntie Pinkie" and Twilight nearly tells her that they're the same age before she is cut-off by Pinkie. This alludes to a scene in Griffon the Brush Off wherein Pinkie says the same thing to Fluttershy, who replies, "I'm a year older than you," as Pinkie walks away. Category:Fan fiction